Pill storage question
Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 2:59 pm
Hello!
I have a question about storing pills. The packet of my tri-phasic pills says to store between 68 and 77 degrees, but that seems like a really narrow window. The reason I'm asking is that a couple weeks ago (may 8) I went over to a friend's house and may have left my pills in the car, parked in the shade, for 1-2 hours (I can't remember if I took them inside with me or not) on an 83 degree day. This is the only time this has happened, and I always store my pills indoors within the specified temperature range.
I'm not really concerned about a pregnancy risk because I take my pills every day on time (never missed one) and the one time I have had sex since then we used a condom (correctly and with no apparent failure) but I'm wondering if something like that could make pills less effective.
Obviously, I don't plan on making a habit of leaving my pills in a hot car, but I'm thinking that taking my pills every single day and always having them available to do that might mean that, on a rare occasion, they might spend an hour or two outside that very narrow range. I can see how prolonged exposure to extreme heat or cold might render BCP, or any other medication, ineffective, but surely the failure rate of BCP would be a lot higher if an hour or two of hot or cold could render an entire pack of sealed pills ineffective, right?
I realize that I should probably ask my pharmacist about this when I go pick up my refill, but instinct tells me that as long as I am ~storing~ my pills at the correct temperature I should be fine. Long story short, do I need to be paranoid about temperature? Thanks!
I have a question about storing pills. The packet of my tri-phasic pills says to store between 68 and 77 degrees, but that seems like a really narrow window. The reason I'm asking is that a couple weeks ago (may 8) I went over to a friend's house and may have left my pills in the car, parked in the shade, for 1-2 hours (I can't remember if I took them inside with me or not) on an 83 degree day. This is the only time this has happened, and I always store my pills indoors within the specified temperature range.
I'm not really concerned about a pregnancy risk because I take my pills every day on time (never missed one) and the one time I have had sex since then we used a condom (correctly and with no apparent failure) but I'm wondering if something like that could make pills less effective.
Obviously, I don't plan on making a habit of leaving my pills in a hot car, but I'm thinking that taking my pills every single day and always having them available to do that might mean that, on a rare occasion, they might spend an hour or two outside that very narrow range. I can see how prolonged exposure to extreme heat or cold might render BCP, or any other medication, ineffective, but surely the failure rate of BCP would be a lot higher if an hour or two of hot or cold could render an entire pack of sealed pills ineffective, right?
I realize that I should probably ask my pharmacist about this when I go pick up my refill, but instinct tells me that as long as I am ~storing~ my pills at the correct temperature I should be fine. Long story short, do I need to be paranoid about temperature? Thanks!
